1.   Nigeria | Vulnerabilities | Irrigation | Coping Strategies | Drought
	Talitha Tukura (Nigeria), Orleans Mfune (Zambia) and Conrad Otterness (US) spent eight months in 2011 working with 200 families in Kwall, Nigeria who are suffering from chronic food shortages caused by difficult access to water and from climate variability that impacts harvests.

2.  7 Years of extreme weather in Grenada increases malnutrition & poverty
	Meredith Waters (US) and Gillian Primus (Grenada) have been working for the past six months on a project on the Island of Grenada that has been hit by a series of tropical hurricanes and tropical storms exhibiting increased ferocity over the past seven years.
The CBA program they designed relates to the challenges of climate variability: extreme weather, and unpredictable rainy season that have reduced crop harvests—and includes a Farmer Soil Conservation and a Water Conservation and Management Program.

3.  Yadua Village, Fiji: 200 people are suffering climate change induced rising sea levels
	Partners Loraini Sivo (Fiji) and Fatema Rajabali (Kenya/UK) worked this year on a project in a small fishing village in Fiji.

200 people in the village of Yadua, Fiji are suffering from increased shoreline erosion caused by increased wave actions due to the loss of mangrove forest and a reef which acted as buffers—and climate change induced rising sea levels. Their project is an ecosystem based adaptation program restoring mangrove and reef systems to act again as natural buffers.

4.  Forest Reserve Nigeria: REDD+ | NTFPs | Climate Smart Agroforestry
	Bridget Nkor (Nigeria), Jason Yapp (Malaysia/UK) & Donatella Fregonese (Italy/UK) began developing a project with the indigenous Buanchor community who are the custodians of the Afi Forest Reserve—a habitat for gorilla—and biodiversity hotspot.
The community is suffering from a loss of environmental services provided by the forest due to forest encroachment and poaching. The adaptation project includes the development of Non-Traditional Forest Products, a REDD+ forest stewardship program, and a climate smart agroforestry program.

5.  Ethiopia | Food/HIV | Food Security | Urban Gardening | Income Generation
	Alem Yalew Adela (Ethiopia) and Margie Huang (US/Ethiopia) are working on a CBA/DRR program and an income generation program with 265 families in Sebeta Town, Ethiopia. Community members suffer from chronic poverty due to lack of sources of income generation and savings/microcredit—and also suffer from reduced crop harvests due to a shortage of rain linked to climate change.
The DRR program is extremely interesting because unlike focusing on reducing risk to floods, rising sea level, or extreme weather events—it’s focusing on reducing risk such that the community will be prepared for climate change impacts that will adversely impact agricultural production and hence, food security.

6.  Agroforestry and Conservation Agriculture for Malawi Food Security
	Jo Thomas (UK/Malawi) and Marina France (US) began developing a food insecurity project in May in the Phalula Village in Malawi.    770 families face food security as a result of land degradation and climate change linked variable and unpredictable rainfall patterns.
Our partners developed an agroforestry income generation program that looks first at identifying markets before choosing agricultural products to plant.

7.   British Virgin Islands: Climate change induced heavy rains degrade coastal water quality & impact local economy
	Climate change has caused an increase in heavy rains on Tortola island and the storm water runoff causes flooding and deposits sediments and pollutants into the bay reducing water quality. Tourism is a major source of revenue for Tortola and this reduction in water quality has not only impacted a fragile environment—but has affected the island’s business economy.
Angela Burnett and Atoya George of the British Virgin Islands Department of Conservation and Fisheries, and have been working on a project which includes a Community Flood Resilience Programme, a Drainage Maintenance and Improvement Programme, and a Sedimentation Reduction Programme

8.  Best of February Online Resources for CBA Practitioners
	The Business Case for Mainstreaming Gender in Redd+. UN-REDD Programme The Adaptation Coalition Toolkit: Building Community Resilience to Climate Change. The World Bank, Social Development Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region Overcoming the Barriers. How to ensure future food production under climate change in southern Africa. Oxfam.

10.  New CSDi Release: 50 Solution-Oriented Programs for Community Challenges in Relief, Development & Adapatation

Here are a range of solutions in the form of programs and activities that past students have used successfully in addressing project challenges. Feel free to use them, modify them, or develop your own solutions instead. Many of the programs are highly specific to one student’s project and will need to be adapted to fit yours. Many of the programs have multiple activities; these are to give you options for customizing your own programs: edit the activities down as you see fit for your project.

Sebeta Town, Ethiopia
Alem Yalew Adela (Ethiopia) and Margie Huang (US/Ethiopia) are working on a Disaster Risk Reduction program and an income generation program with 265 families in Sebeta Town, Ethiopia. Community members suffer from chronic poverty due to lack of sources of income generation and savings/microcredit — and also suffer from reduced crop harvests due to a shortage of rain linked to climate change.

Woman Voting During Needs Assessment Process
	Alem and Margie are working on a project that includes three main programs: 1. Alternative income generation program 2. Capital, savings, and microcredit program 3. Disaster risk reduction program.

The DRR program is extremely interesting because unlike focusing on reducing risk to floods, rising sea level, or extreme weather events — it’s focusing on reducing risk such that the community will be prepared for climate change impacts that will adversely impact agricultural production and hence, food security.

Disaster Risk Reduction Program [Solution to underlying cause: Shortage and erratic rains in some parts of the country leads to diminished production and  productivity of crops]
[Activity 1]. Community-based workshop with community members to identify their knowledge of risk, vulnerability and traditional coping techniques related to food security
[Activity 2]. Community workshop on evidence-based technologies and/or techniques that will reduce risk, prevent, and prepare them for climate change impacts that might adversely affect the products/services they are hoping to develop
[Activity 3]. Develop demonstration site of the above evidence-based technologies and/or techniques to increase production and productivity (e.g. selection of crops adapted to climate change, proper water utilization, development of drainage during high rainfall season).

Some of the background challenges this project faces are these families have insufficient income to fulfill basic household needs — such as food, clothing, medical costs, and household rent. Food insecurity affects community members health, physical strength and the productivity of the women.

The DRR program is unique in the sense that team Ethiopia intends to hold a participatory workshop with the community members in order to identify their knowledge of risk, vulnerability, and traditional coping techniques related to food security. They will then combine this local knowledge with scientific knowledge in order to present to the community evidence-based techniques that will reduce risk, and prepare them for climate change impacts that might adversely affect the products that they hoping to develop.

One of the main products that they’re hoping to develop are vegetables from urban gardens that local/regional businesses have a demand for.  They’re hoping to partner with these businesses to develop vocational training that will help them develop improved agricultural practices for these which are in demand. Their project also includes developing a demonstration site for these evidence-based techniques that can show others in the community how to increase productivity and how to adapt their production techniques to climate change: proper water utilization and the development of drainage during high rainfall.

The long-term impact of the project is for these community members to have sufficient income to fulfill family need, have increased crop harvests that can adapt to a changing climate, for their children to be able to attend school and for the women could be able to have the health and strength to lead the productive, meaningful, prosperous lives they need to leave the vicious cycle of poverty and contribute to the development of their communities.

Download their report and needs assessment:
Needs assessment workshop
Initial project outline

Would you like to learn how to develop Community Based Adaptation Projects?

Kwall, Nigeria
Talitha Tukura (Nigeria), Orleans Mfune (Zambia) and Conrad Otterness (US) spent eight months in 2011 working with 200 families in Kwall, Nigeria who are suffering from chronic food shortages caused by a lack of access to water and climate variability. These challenges exacerbate the already complex problem of poverty due to a lack of agricultural income. Combine these challenges lead to chronically malnourished and frequently ill children– and an inability to purchase food and pay for children’s education and health.

Woman Voting During Needs Assessment Process
	Team Nigeria developed a project that includes: 1. Water use management plan 2. Farmer soil and water program 3. Family garden and nutrition program 4. Agricultural income generation program

Some of the background challenges that this community faces include bad governance, low civic participation, low literacy rates, and bad roads which restrict market access. Chronically malnourished children frequently suffer from stunting — poor mental and physical development affecting their ability to participate in education.

Solution-oriented programmes
	Their plan includes the development of irrigation infrastructure for their farmers, and farmer workshops on water conservation and management techniques.

B. Vulnerability Matrix: What is a prioritization of the community’s greatest hazards they face?
-Change in the timing and length of the growing (rainy) season; starting later and ending earlier
-Drought;  the dry spells are becoming much longer
-Unpredictable rainfall during the rainy season
-Crisis and disease
-Bush burning
-Erosion- the heavy rainfall leads to erosions and with trees being cut for firewood there are no barriers.

Vulnerability Matrix
	What parts of their lives (livelihood resources) are the most vulnerable? -Food Security (agriculture and livestock) -Human capital ( i.e. due to poor health and nutrition) -Physical assets (productive infrastructure destroyed due to religious conflicts and heavy rains) -Trading and Business -Hand crafts and vocational trades -Hunting and fishing -Income Generation

Coping Mechanisms

It’s very complicated for them because they do not have extension workers that can advise them accordingly. Rather they learn through trial and error. Many of them use faster growing crop varieties, stress tolerant crops or have simply stopped farming certain crops. In addition, they have important social networks (e.g. extended family networks and associations) that allow them to cope with changes. Poverty is a huge issue and they cannot afford to pay for the construction of boreholes. In this vein, they are dependent on hand dug open wells which increases their vulnerability to waterborne diseases.

 
Download their report and needs assessment:
Needs assessment workshop
Initial project outline
Team building workshop

Would you like to learn how to develop Community Based Adaptation Projects?